Think fertility tracking apps are just a gimmick? Think again. Tracking your menstrual cycles, timing intercourse, and recording data on your body's monthly changes are all vital ingredients in the recipe for a healthy pregnancy. The more information you have for your doctor, the better.

Fertility tracking can even rule out some potential causes of infertility. For instance, you might be able to confirm that you do not ovulate, or that your luteal phase is simply too short to sustain a healthy pregnancy. This can help you avoid unnecessary testing, and get you one step closer to the pregnancy you've dreamed of.

Many couples that try to conceive naturally have some difficulty achieving positive results. Quite often there are infertility issues involved. Fortunately, many fertility problems have high treatable success rates. One initial test, a Male Fertility Test, can rule out a number of possible problems with the quality of semen and sperm. Overall health and other factors can cause semen deficiencies and impact the ability of the male to reproduce. Since approximately 30 to 35% of fertility issues reside with the male partner, this is typically where testing and diagnosis begin. Testing for male infertility is relatively simple and the tests cover a wide array of possible problems.

There’s a reason for everything, right? At least, that is what I was thinking as I began my infertility journey. Before I started with my first IVF cycle, I was sure that it would be a success. When that cycle failed, I told myself over and over again that… “everything happens for a reason.”

When my second IVF cycle was unsuccessful, I searched and searched deep in my soul for answers. Why couldn’t I get pregnant? Was I supposed to keep trying? What other choices did I have? Questions that most of us who are on an infertility journey ask ourselves many times as we push forward to reach our goal – the goal of holding our precious bundle of joy.

Sometimes the strongest among us are the ones who smile through silent pain, cry behind closed doors, and fight battles nobody knows about.

It was a beautiful morning as I traveled down I-45 to an appointment I had been looking forward to for years. Traffic was crawling along the freeway, but my mind was racing a million miles a minute. I turned the radio off to reflect on the thoughts going through my head… Is the timing right? Is this what I’m suppose to be doing? Is our family complete? What if it ends up not working? What if we spend ALL of our money… ALL of our time… ALL of our energy… and still don’t get the baby we have dreamt about for so long?

While reproductive medicine is primarily focused on helping a woman conceive, much of the care that is provided is centered around ensuring that the pregnancy goes full-term. The goal, of course, is to deliver a healthy baby. Statistics show that approximately 15% of confirmed pregnancies and close to 50% of all pregnancies end with a first trimester miscarriage. Usually, miscarriage is a one-time experience…

Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) is a hormone secreted by the cells of immature (primordial) follicles in the ovaries. These follicles usually hold one egg that can be ovulated during a future menstrual cycle. When a woman is born, she already has all the eggs she will ever have. As she ages, the number of immature follicles that she produces will decrease until she goes through menopause. In fact, as the number of follicles declines, the AMH level decreases as well. This decline in AMH levels is a very clear-cut gauge of a woman's ovarian reserve (OR)...